Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Many of us are using the last few days of 2011 to plan out income tax strategies, including donations to various non-profit organizations and charities. Don't forget that you can donate to the Federation of Genealogical Societies through the following programs:

Preserve the Pensions: The Federation of Genealogical Societies, the National Archives, and the genealogical community have started a project to digitize the War of 1812 pension files—a fitting beginning to the bicentennial commemoration of this important war. Click here to learn more and to donate today!

Friends of the Federation: The Federation of Genealogical Societies is a vital link for the twenty-first century genealogical community. Our hallmark role is linking the genealogical community through service to our member societies. You are invited to become a Friend of the Federation — a critical link in the Federation's capacity to continue serving the genealogical community. Click here to learn more and to donate today!

Fifty for the Future: The Federation of Genealogical Societies is re-doubling its efforts to provide materials, services, and seminar presentations specifically designed to assist genealogical organizations be successful in the 21st century. These efforts require resources. Please consider joining our "Fifty for the Future" campaign by donating $50 today. Become an energized "Fifty for the Future" campaigner by getting five of your genealogical friends to each donate $10 apiece—making another "Fifty for the Future!" Click here to learn more and to donate today!

Stern-NARA Gift Fund: The Stern-NARA Gift Fund is a nationally supported program to finance preservation and imaging of valuable research materials now preserved in the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. These materials consist of microfilm and digitized images of important genealogical records and indexes. These materials are produced without government funding, and are then distributed to the 13 National Archives Regional Archives for use by researchers or placed online for access. FGS administers this fund and conducts fund raising campaigns to support records preservation of and access to these records. Click here to learn more and to make a donation today!

The Federation of Genealogical Societies wishes you a Happy New Year and we thank you for your continued support!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

As a reminder, the Fall 2011 issue of the FGS FORUM is available in the Members Section of the FGS website.

Our editor, Matt Wright, continues to create an interactive publication geared to helping our member societies grow, while maintaining helpful information to individual genealogists. Here is just a short preview to what awaits you:

In addition, you'll find lots of great content in this issue:

Member Society News, by Randy Whited

Academic Libraries - Good Reasons to Head Back to Campus, by Mary Penner

Subscribers can login to access their copy of the Fall 2011 issue, and two members of each member organization can also use their society's login ID and password to access their copies.

And what if you're not a subscriber yet? FGS is offering a one-year subscription to the FGS FORUM, which is produced in electronic format (PDF), for $15 and a special two-year membership deal for $25. Learn more at http://fgs.org/forum and download a sample issue. You can subscribe online or print and mail your check.

(2) Csgacopyright (http://csgacopyright.wordpress.com), the second blog, is a continuation in our effort to help the genealogical community understand copyright issues. The blog discusses copyright law, provides links and feeds to other copyright web sites and will highlight blog postings on other sites.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Hi readers. This is Paula Stuart-Warren, a member of the FGS Board of Directors. I really enjoy listening to the FGS My Society Radio Shows. In the live chat room during a recent show, Doug Williams of Illinois made a terrific suggestion. He gave permission for me to share his idea with readers. Doug suggested we give a gift membership in the Federation of Genealogical Societies to our society if they aren't a member. It's not that expensive! It would make a perfect Hanukkah, Christmas, or society anniversary gift. Memberships run on a calender year basis. Click here for details. It's as low as $35.00 for a society of 50 members or less and only $115.00 for a society of 1000+ members. Memberships may be done online or by regular mail. We will let you know if his society joins with his contribution.

Doug wrote:

Listening to the December 10th FGS radio show, and participating in the chat room conversation, I couldn't help but think that FGS provides great resources and services for genealogical societies. I knew that local Illinois societies are active FGS members, but wasn't sure about my hometown society. Not finding them on the FGS membership list I thought that perhaps gifting a membership to FGS might be a way to encourage them to "give it a try" and see what FGS has to offer them. My hope is that the society leadership would become aware of the excellent resources available to the society as a member of FGS, including subscriptions to the FGS FORUM, conference attendance, and the many FGS resources offered to help with society organization and management; for example, access to the Society Strategy Papers and the Bylaws, Newsletter, and Website Review Committees. After seeing all the benefits available, I wonder if there might be other societies who might benefit from a gift membership to FGS. Even those societies that are already FGS members might appreciate the budgetary assistance received from a contribution earmarked for FGS membership renewal. Seems like a great way to promote FGS and help enrich a society at the same time!

My personal history of financial contribution to a genealogical society? Many times during the past 10 or so years, when renewing my membership with [my hometown society], I've added an additional amount as a contribution to the society in excess of the $15 annual dues. Sometimes it's been another $10, sometimes more, depending on the state of my personal finances at year's end. I've never stipulated how they use the contribution but I believe they've used it mostly for the society library's needs. Most years I've received a nice note from the society leadership thanking me for the donation.

This year my contribution will be a little bit more, probably $100, which should more than cover the FGS membership fee for the [society name]. With my contribution check I will include a note repeating much of the above, along with a copy of the FGS Benefits of Membership information from the FGS website, and a blank copy of the FGS Membership Form. (I'll let you know, Paula, if I receive a response from the society.)"

FGS Radio - My Society will be taking a break for the holiday season but we'll return next Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 1pm Central. Our host will be D. Joshua Taylor, Vice President of Administration for FGS and the topic will be New Year, New Board Members.

This week’s episode hosted by Thomas MacEntee is entitled Dear Santa: What I Want This Year for My Genealogy Society. The format of this week’s show will be a call-in show where genealogy society members, leaders and members of the genealogy community voice their wishes and desires for their own genealogy societies. This is a great way to get ideas from other genealogy societies and hopefully put them to work in 2012!

FGS Radio Takes a Holiday!

So that our hosts and listeners can enjoy the holiday season, the next episode of FGS Radio - My Society will be on Saturday, January 7, 2012. Stay tuned here at FGS Voice for details on each new episode in 2012.

Join Us Each Saturday Afternoon at FGS Radio

Tune in to FGS Radio – My Society each week to learn more about genealogy societies and join in a discussion of the issues impacting the genealogical community.

This week’s episode hosted by Josh Taylor is entitled SWAT: Analyzing Your Society from the Inside Out. Our guest will be Janet Hovorka, President of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA), who will discuss how UGA was able to analyze its strengths and weaknesses as an organization and then create an ambitious plan to expand its member services as well as offerings to the genealogical community. In addition, we’ll be highlighting FGS member society, Genealogical Society of South Whidbey Island (Washington) in our weekly Society Spotlight feature.

Guests

Guest: Janet Hovorka

Janet Hovorka received a B.A. in Ancient Near Eastern History and a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from BYU. She accepted teaching and library positions at BYU and Salt Lake Community College before having her three wonderful children. She and her husband Kim Hovorka own Family Chartmasters (http://www.familychartmasters.com), an online genealogy chart printing service. Janet writes The Chart Chick blog (http://www.thechartchick.com), she is currently serving as President of the Utah Genealogical Association and has presented hundreds of lectures all over the country to help people find out more about their family’s history.

This week's Society Spotlight features the Genealogical Society of South Whidbey Island (Washington).

The South Whidbey Island Genealogy Club was formed by Mrs. Bonnie Sears, with the first meeting held May 9, 1994. The membership grew and in June 1999 the club became an incorporated, nonprofit society. The name was then changed to the Genealogical Society of South Whidbey Island. Our membership now boasts more than 100 members, a statement on the popularity of genealogy here.

In recognition of her contribution in forming The South Whidbey Genealogy Club, the Board voted to award Bonnie Sears Honored Lifetime Membership in the Genealogical Society of South Whidbey Island.

Our Mission

The society is devoted exclusively to furthering genealogical research, promoting interest in family history and preserving records.

Our Research

We have more than 100 members researching more than 875 unique surnames. Members' research currently involves about 51 states or provinces and 19 countries. See our research for details.